AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods got a bad break Friday in the second round of the Masters when his approach shot to the 15th green bounced off the flagstick and into the water.
He also took a bad drop, leading to a two-stroke penalty that was levied on Saturday morning.
Woods was not disqualified because of a relatively recent rule which allows the rules committee discretion when it comes to violations reported after the fact.
Masters officials reviewed the drop on Saturday morning.
Woods had 87 yards to the hole for his third shot.
Under Rule 26-1, Woods had three options at the yellow-staked (not lateral) hazard, which is a pond that fronts the green:
• He could have played from a designated drop area, which he chose not to do because he did not like the lie.
• He could drop the ball, keeping the point where it last crossed the margin of the water between the hole and the spot on which the ball would be dropped. Since the ball entered the water well left of Woods' position from the fairway, it would seem he did not choose this option -- which would have allowed him to drop on a straight line as far back as he wanted.
• Or, he could return to the original spot from which he played, and drop "as nearly as possible,'' from where he played the third shot.
This is the option Woods took, and the question appeared to be: Did Woods drop the ball as near as possible to his original spot?
After the round, Woods said: "I went back to where I played it from, but I went 2 yards further back and I took, tried to take 2 yards off the shot of what I felt I hit.''
On a CBS-TV highlights show late Friday night, analyst David Feherty showed the replay and questioned the legality of the drop.
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